Pictured, from left: UTC Commercialization Coordinator Jennifer Skjellum, Dr. Thomas Lyons, Clarence E. Harris Chair of Excellence in Entrepreneurship and professor of marketing and entrepreneurship, and Gary W. Rollins College of Business Associate Dean Michael Jones.
A team from the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga was selected as one of the top three in a worldwide competition honoring excellence and achievement in higher education entrepreneurship activities.
At the recent Accreditation Council for Entrepreneurial and Engaged Universities’ global Triple E Awards ceremony in Barcelona, the CIE team placed third in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Team of the Year category—focusing on university programs that involve and benefit students and the local community.
UTC was in prestigious company, coming just behind the London School of Economics and Political Science, which won first place in the category, and Johannes Kepler University in Linz, Austria, which finished second.
“It was an honor to represent UTC and the Gary W.
Rollins College of Business at the Triple E Awards ceremony in Barcelona, Spain, on June 27,” said Dr. Thomas Lyons, Clarence E. Harris Chair of Excellence in Entrepreneurship and professor of marketing and entrepreneurship. “Our third-place finish speaks to the hard work, dedication and creativity of our team.”
Other CIE team members are Commercialization Coordinator Jennifer Skjellum, Entrepreneur-in-Residence Mike Bradshaw and former CIE Director Libby Santin, who left UTC in January to start her own consulting business.
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Team of the Year global finalists also included the University of the South Pacific in Fiji and Gründungsgarage in Graz, Austria.
“The caliber of our competition only makes this accomplishment more impressive,” Dr. Lyons said.